Sarasota fishing report Capt Jim klopfer 4/18/2015
Capt. Jim Klopfer
April 19, 2015
Sarasota - Saltwater Fishing Report
The best bite for my clients this week continued to be the deep grass flats in Sarasota Bay. The majority of fish were landed using live shrimp, though Bass Assassin jigs fooled a few and fly fisherman did well using Clouser Minnows in chartreuse. Spanish mackerel, speckled trout to 23", sharks, jacks, sea bass, snapper, grouper, and ladyfish were landed near Bird Key, the Middlegrounds, Stephen's Pt., and Buttonwood Harbor.
I started my week off with Keith Williams from the UK and his boys Thomas (15) and Toby (5). This was a casual trip as Toby usually can't take the entire four hours. We caught ladyfish, trout, jacks, mackerel, and sea bass in big Pass and on the nearby flats using live shrimp.
On Monday and Thursday John Medrick from Colorado and his son Odin went out on charters. We started off at Stephen's Pt. on Monday catching several small sharks, speckled trout, jacks, ladyfish and sailcats. We had a little excitement as Odin was reeling in a small trout and a HUGE trout ate it! It was every bit of 32"; probably the largest speckled trout that I have ever seen! It mouthed the small trout for a bit then let go. The action slowed, so we ran to the Middlegrounds and caught big ladyfish on jigs and shrimp and Odin landed a nice shark on a jig. We finished up near Bird Key, catching trout, ladyfish, and gag grouper. On Thursday we hit Stephen's Pt. again at first light. Action was steady, but mostly small trout. There was no wind at all, not great for a large flat like that, so I ran up north to a smaller flat near a bar. It proved to be a good choice as the guys caught a bunch of trout, quite a few of which were in the slot. We finished up in front of Buttonwood Harbor, catching trout and ladyfish.
Chris Harwick from Darien, CT had a good charter on Tuesday. I picked him up along with his two boys and father-in-law at the Ritz Crlton and headed north. The boys caught some nice trout to 21" free lining shrimp while Chris chose to fly fish. We hit the Middlegrounds and Marker # 5, where Chris landed trout, Spanish mackerel, and ladyfish on a chartreuse/gold Clouser Minnow and the others caught more trout and ladyfish on shrimp and jigs.
Chuck Bauernschmidt from the Cleveland, OH area went on a fly fishing trip on Wednesday. We started on the flats near Bird Key and Chuck had a big trout on for a bit before it shook the fly. He also caught speckled trout, sea bass, Spanish mackerel, snapper, and ladyfish using a chartreuse/white Clouser.
On Friday John Carroll from New Hampshire took out his grand daughter Jonalyn Burt and her boyfriend Bruce Putnam out on a charter. They did well, catching eleven different species including speckled trout to 23", mangrove snapper to 16", bluefish, a big bonnethead shark, jack crevelle, gag grouper, lane snapper, black sea bass, ladyfish, blue runner, and catfish. All of the fish hit free lined shrimp on the flats near Big Pass.
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